First Post!

Starting my journey as a writer!

Welcome to my first post! My name is Stephen Wu. I invest in and advise super early-stage startups as an angel investor and share lessons I've learnt as a part-time lecturer. I'm based out of Hong Kong and Shenzhen.

Previously, I was an investor at Iterative, a YC-style startup accelerator focused on Southeast Asia, and Chief of Staff at big tech companies like ByteDance and DJI. I studied Chemical Engineering at UCSD and have an MBA from INSEAD. When I’m not analyzing pitch decks or teaching, you’ll find me training for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitions.

For my first post, I’d like to set the stage and explain why I’m starting to write, why now, and what to expect moving forward.

Why I’m Putting Finger to Keyboard

1. Pressure-Testing My Thinking

   Ideas often feel solid in my head—until I try to communicate them in writing. Writing forces me to structure, refine, and sometimes even abandon initially-good-but-actually-bad ideas. Furthermore, by sharing my ideas publicly, they get tested against the collective wisdom of the masses.

2. Documenting and Learning From My Journey
   The journey’s far from over, but I feel I’ve experienced enough lessons now that some of it fades if I don’t find ways to internalize them. I intend to use writing as a tool to press pause, reflect, and retrospect - turning experiences into understanding and making sure the lessons stick.

3. Paying It Forward

   I’ve been incredibly lucky to have mentors who gave me their time and wisdom. Having experienced the mentor role myself now, I understand the fulfillment that comes from guiding others. So I’m hoping that something I share here saves someone time or shifts how they see a problem or inspires them in some way. If I can help just one person, that’s enough for me.

Writing is also just a great communication skill that I’m sure will come in handy somewhere in the future.

Why Now? Overcoming the Barriers

I’ve tried to start writing many times before and failed repeatedly. In my introspection, I’ve concluded that these are the factors that held me back—and why I’m pushing through this time:

• Fear of Failure: I used to obsess over metrics—Will anyone read this? Is this good enough?—until I heard a piece of advice: 'When starting out, count posts, not views.' This idea redefined success for me because the goal stopped being external validation and became something I could control.

• Undervaluing the Process: I used to talk myself out of committing—What’s the point if the end result isn’t guaranteed?—until I heard LeBron James on his Mind the Game podcast. He spoke about loving the process of basketball—the daily grind, the incremental progress—and it hit me: I’d felt that same joy before. In jiu-jitsu, the real magic wasn’t the podium moments; it was the ‘aha!’ breakthroughs and the first time a technique works during sparring. This applies to writing too.

• Perfectionism Paralysis: I wasted energy on trying to figure out the "perfect" platform, topics, and styles. Then I remembered the startup mantra: Launch fast, launch often and do things that don’t scale. My favorite writers started with simple blogs. The content matters, not the packaging.

Funny how these lessons weren’t new—but hearing them together finally made them stick.

What to Expect Here

You won’t find a perfectly curated theme here—just my genuine reflections. I’ll be sharing personal stories, lessons learned, and ideas I’m wrestling with. While writing helps me process and grow, I’d be honored if anything here resonates with you too.

I truly value thoughtful feedback and different perspectives, though I may not always incorporate every suggestion. After all, we all have our unique paths—you’re welcome to take what serves you, and I’ll do the same.

The Plan: Building Consistency First

I’m breaking this process into phases to make it more achievable:

1. Cadence Phase (Months 1–3):

   • Goal: 1 post/month.

   • Focus: Push through the inertia of starting and building the habit of just hitting the publish button.

2. Process Phase (Months 4–6):

   • Goal: 2 posts/month.

   • Focus: Learning how to write better—research, structure, editing. Trying to find my own writing style and establishing a comfortable process for myself.

3. Growth Phase (Month 7+):

   • Goal: 4 posts/month.

   • Focus: Volume and refinement. By now, I should know what works and just need reps.

Each phase builds on the last and hopefully I’ll be a competent writer by the end of the process. No rush, just progress.

Let’s go!

For those that joined early enough to see this post - thank you for being here and I hope that you’ll stay with me for this journey!

So here’s to my first post - hopefully the first of many to come! Let’s go!